******Chapter 4

The minute Hammersley had left the port and was on their way to the open sea, Commander Flynn ordered his senior sailors to the ship's office. He closed the door behind him and looked around. Swain and Buffer where standing at the wall, waiting calmly for what to come, chatting silently with each other. Kate sat at the table, next to her was sitting a nervous RO fiddling with his fingers. Charge had excused himself, he was trying to fix what the nav techs couldn't finish due to crash-sail. After all they had been supposed to be grounded for at least two more days.

"I'm going to tell you something you need to know. But this is not going to leave this room, did I made myself clear?" Everyone nodded, now he had their full attention.
"Last month, HMAS Kingston tried to board a suspected FFV. They had to abort the boarding due to heavy fire. Commander of the Kingston reported highly armed and well trained personal on the other ship. Their RO said he had heard some high-frequency outputs just before they located the FFV. That's why they wanted to investigate. NAVCOM later found out that the owner of the ship was suspected of gunrunning and drug trafficking. Feds never could establish proof of it. NAVCOM and Feds are currently running secret surveillance ops but there is nothing so far. They do suspect that he uses a submarine to bring the weapons and drugs over the boarder. That happened before."
Mike looked around.
"What is new is that they can't locate the submarine. This high-frequency outputs seem to be the key to it though." He looked at Robert invitingly.
The communications officer took over. "As you all know, sonar has a wide variety of techniques for identifying the source of a detected sound. There's a databases to identify classes of ships, their actions and even particular ships. A well trained operator can identify most of the sounds without even check that database. For example, a US submarine does usually operate 60 Hz alternating power systems where as..."
"RO, just the short version please." the CO interfered impatiently.
"Sure Sir. As I said, you can identify a vessel by his sound. This high-frequency outputs the RO of the Kingston overheard seem to come from that submarine we are looking for. They were described as to be similar to that of a minehunter but not exactly the same. Unfortunately they didn't record the sound so we do have no comparative rule."
"Up until now that is." Mike took over again. "A few weeks ago Miss River contacted RO to ask for his expertise. She wanted to send him a sound file she had recorded. That didn't happen due to technical problems. Last night she radioed Hammersley and reported the sound again. She described it then as high-pitched and similar to a minehunter or a hydrographic survey ship. RO recorded the call so we do have a sample now."
He saw it in the faces of the other sailors that they made the same conclusions he had made about an hour ago.
"It's pretty slightly and in the background and there is a lot of static so we can't be sure what it was." He tried to reassure them. "Problem is we can establish contact neither to the underwater station nor the scientist that was due to take over for Miss River this week. So NAVCOM sent us out to make sure everything is ok."
"Boss, if she recorded a sound file of this sub and they found out..." Buffer didn't finish his sentence. Nobody in the room dared to think of the consequences.

0700 in the morning they reached the coordinates they had been heading for full steam the whole night. Charge had done his best, they were there half an hour earlier than expected.
"Engines to full astern. Stop the ship."
"Aye Boss, full astern." Buffer, who sat at the helm, carried out the order and then stopped the engines. Swain was standing next to him observing the sea at their bow. It lay silent, ripples indicated a slow breeze, the sun had just come up over the horizon. It all looked so peaceful and still there was something not right.
"RO, try radio contact again."
Robert was already on the radio, listening to the crackle, holding his headset with one hand to his left ear so he could hear the commands as well.
"Nothing so far, Sir. Underwater station, this is the HMAS Hammersley calling you on channel 19. Please respond. I repeat this is the Australian Warship Hammersley, please respond." The static sounded over speaker now. Everyone on the bridge waited, hoping to hear a response. Nothing but silence. A loud ringing made them all jump.
"Sorry Sir, that's mine." RO apologized. He got his mobile out of his pocket wanting to turn down the caller. He froze in the middle of his movement.
"What is it, RO? This has to wait!" Mike was sure to lose his patience any second.
"Sir, I... I think this can't.." the perplexed officer stuttered and answered the call.
"Robert Dixon speaking." he said with a tremulous voice.
"Mr. Dixon, glad I reached you. This is Miss River speaking. I heard what confusion I caused and I just wanted to apologize. I'm already on my way back to Darwin, Tom managed to finally take over. About that call last night, sorry to bother you with that. Tom is thinking of a hydrographic survey ship and I do agree with him."
"RO, you're ok? Who is it?" Anxiously Swain knelt down in front of his crew mate who looked as if he could pass out every minute.
"Mr. Dixon you're still there?"
"Yes, I am, Miss River." Someone gasped behind him.
"Good. Please tell Commander Flynn that I would appreciate his offer – the one for a coffee next time he is in home port at Darwin. And greetings to your ship's doctor Swain."
"Sara, are you okay? You sound a little out of breath." Robert hurried to say. He wanted to keep her talking to give his brain time to catch up.
"Sure I am, it's holidays. What could be better? I have to go, good bye Mr. Dixon."
"RO?" Swain was urging now.
"This was Miss River." he answered him slowly as if just awaken from a bad dream.
"She said that she's fine, that what she heard was a survey ship and that her colleague superseded her. She's already on her way back to Darwin."
All eyes were on RO, no one said a word. One could have heard a pin drop.
"Sir, there's something not right." He continued. "She called me Mr. Dixon, she never did that before. And she said she would appreciate your offer and wants to go for a coffee when we're back in home port... at Darwin." Robert looked at Swain. "She even asked me to say hello to our ship's doctor."
Spider found his voice first. "Miss River knows the Hammersley's home port is Cairns. We told her when we waited for you to come and get us."
Swain nodded slowly. "And she knows for sure that I'm not a doctor."
"I never asked her out for a coffee." Mike felt stupid but he had to say the obvious nonetheless. Buffer stood up from the helm where he had sat the whole time.
"No Boss, but I remember you offered her something else: help any time she would need it."
The CO stared at him for a moment then came to life again.
"Swain, grab 2Dads. You go for a dive. I want to know what's going on down there. RO try to reach this colleague of her over radio. Buffer, I want a RHIB in the water standing by to pick up our divers."
"Why does she have his phone number?" 2Dads whispered on his way off the bridge. Swain ignored him.

The RHIB rolled gently up and down in the ripples. Swain and 2Dads sat on the edge with full diving gear, back to the water.
"You ready?" Swain asked and put his diving mask on. His crew mate nodded. "Then let's go and have a look. I lead, you follow. Watch out for sharks. There shouldn't be any around at this time of the year but you never know."
The divers entered the water by rolling backwards overside. 2Dads gave the ok sign and they slowly disappeared. All the others could see were small bubbles and a distant shimmering from the flashlights, then nothing but black water. Now all they could do was wait.

Twenty minutes later, Swain reported over radio.
"Boss, 2Dads fixed the radio down here. A Mr. Tom Magnus is standing next to me claiming to be the colleague of Miss River. Documents seem to be ok. He says that she left at 2300 last night. He wants to talk to you." There where some shuffling noises.
"Commander Flynn, this is Tom Magnus. Sara left last night in the Blackbird, the owner is Mr. Jackson, a local fisherman. I felt guilty letting her down and managed to arrange this late night replacement. Sara said she wants to contact you first thing in the morning, didn't she? Is she alright? Mr. Jackson seemed trustworthy to me but you can't look into someone's mind, can you?." The man sounded concerned.
Mike looked at his X, she looked as confused as he felt.
"She did call in just minutes ago. But Mr. Magnus, why haven't you answered our calls?" she asked finally. Again there was shuffling in the background then 2Dads answered.
"X, he couldn't have even if he had wished to do so. You should see this. It's a miracle that there hasn't happened something up till now. The electronics down here, it's a mess. I strongly recommend to shut down this station. It is a high risk for everyone."
"Thank you 2Dads. Come up then. Mr. Magnus, sorry to disturb you. And please think about Leading Seaman Kosov-Meyers suggestion."
"I will. Thanks for the help Commander Flynn. Always a pleasure to work with the navy."

After removing the heavy parts of their diving equipment and handing it up to Buffer, the two divers returned to the RHIB by climbing back in over the soft rounded tubes. Helping hands pulled them up as a support.
"I wouldn't stay down there for a million dollars." 2Dads shuddered. "It sounded pretty cool but when you're actually there..." His voice petered out.
"I totally agree with you on that one." Swain said.
"You know, I always used to think that it's a little cramped on a patrol vessel. But hey, nothing compared to this. Poor Sara. She really should look out for an other job."
The RHIB came alongside the Hammersley and was hoisted back up on deck which interrupted their conversation. Up on deck, CO was waiting for them.
"Swain?" he asked.
"Boss I have no idea. There were no signs of a fight, of anything that could indicate that he isn't saying the truth." The coxswain shook his head in confusion. "I really don't know what to make of it."
"Neither do I. Go get changed. Debriefing in half an hour in the ship's office." CO turned and climbed through the hatch.

All eyes were on Mike when he entered the office. He started right away, everyone in the room knew what this was about.
"You know, while you two" he pointed at Swain and 2Dads "where down there I had a conversation with Commander Marshall. He told me that the marine institute Sara is working for, just called him."
"Let me guess. They got a phone call as well." Buffer suspected.
"They did. Miss River called them and told more or less the same story she told RO. It matches the one Mr. Magnus has given us. When Commander Marshall suggested that Miss River could come to NAVCOM to talk about what happened with Buffer and Spider, the director of the institute told him that he doesn't know her whereabouts." He paused then continued. "Miss River told them she would go for an outback trip for a couple of weeks."
"The outback?" 2Dads sounded surprised. "Why would she go there for holidays? There's no water at all. And she's a marine biologist, right?" He looked around for reassurance. Kate answered. "She told me she loves the ocean. I can't imagine her in a desert."
"Me neither. That's exactly what I told Commander Marshall."
"So what are we going to do?" Kate wanted to know.
"We go back to Cairns, Hammersley gets her repairs, crew gets two days off as was planned and then we continue our patrol."
"Is that a joke?" Buffer asked in surprise.
"No, as much as I'd like to say otherwise, it isn't. We can't do anything. Miss River reported back, Mr. Magnus and Mr. Jackson told the same story, Feds don't think there is something worth investigating."
"But Boss.." 2Dads complained. Buffer clapped his hands twice.
"You heard the CO. Go back to work. We have a ship to be brought back to port."
Kate McGregor waited until everyone had left then addressed her superior officer.
"Sir, wait please. May I speak frankly?"
"Sure, Kate. What is it?" The CO closed the door and faced her.
"Mike, this is not right."
"I know, Kate. And Commander Marshall has the same doubts as we do have. But we really can't do anything at the moment."
"But the call, it was all wrong..." Mike interrupted her.
"Kate, if I knew what to do and where to go we would be steaming there with full power no matter what NAVCOM is ordering. But Marshall is right. We just met her once, we don't know why she mixed up the facts. Maybe she had already had some drinks to celebrate her relief? Her boss seemed to believe her story. And you have to admit, this whole secret message thing - it really does sound like a bad murder mystery."

First thing Sara heard was a soft moaning. She slowly opened her eyes. Darkness. Movement. There was this moaning again. Finally coming round she realized it was her own voice she had heard. Where the hell am I? She was sure it had to be a ship, there was this heeling and rolling and the distant sound of an engine. But she couldn't remember boarding a ship. Am I still on the Hammersley? Had the pills Swain had given me earlier knocked me out so badly? Weakly she tried to bring herself in an upright position. That had been a bad idea she found out pretty soon. Everything started to spin round and she could just prevent herself from throwing up over her legs. She quickly lay back again and made a short check of herself. Head pounding, dizziness, nausea, loss of memory, she definitely had a concussion. But how did she get one? She tried sitting upright once again, taking it more slowly this time, giving her body time to adjust and leaned against the wall for support. This definitely was a ship and she was sitting in a dark room on a small bunk. Before she could figure out how she had ended up there, a door opened and the light from outside blinded her. She flinched and covered her eyes. Or at least she tried. Alarmed she discovered that her hands had been tied together.

"Good morning sunshine. Hope you slept well."
Sara stared at the man who was standing in the doorway. She couldn't see his face and she didn't recognize his voice.
"Do I know you Sir? Could you please help me with these ropes?" She held up her tied hands. The man laughed.
"Sure I could but right at the moment I don't want to. What I want to do is a little talking. Bring her up!" he ordered someone that was standing behind him and left.
Sara felt herself lifted up quickly and this was it. She couldn't hold back any more and throw up over the guy that had pulled her up.
His answer came so quick she hadn't had the time to evade. The fist hit her nose and it started bleeding almost immediately.
"Don't you dare do that again." the man snorted.
"You too." Sara whispered through gritted teeth and braced herself for the next punch. It didn't come. The man just dragged her up on deck without any further delay.

Up on deck, Sara could see that she was, in fact, on a ship, a small fishing boat it seemed. They laid at anchor, it was still dark but Sara could see the distant lights of a small island. She counted five men including the one that had hit her and was now pushing her to the stern.
"I see you made friends with Jack?" the man that had ordered her to be brought up asked. "My name's Walker, I'm the captain of this ship" he continued.
Leaning at the rail, he was scrutinising her from head to toe then sneered.
"Tom said you were good looking, he didn't exaggerate."
"What did you do to him?" Sara looked him straight into his eyes and didn't allow herself to show any weakness. The fresh air helped with her dizziness and her head was pounding a little less. She tried to loosen the knots that held her hands together furtively but had no success.
"To Tom? Nothing, why should I? He was the one who helped us in the first place cause he came up with the submarine idea. You just screwed up everything by recording the sonar signals. We had to stop you before you do anything stupid."
Sara was shocked. Tom was into this? She had thought he acted a little strange when she had asked him about his opinion but never would she have thought... .
"You know he asked me to play nice. So sorry about Jack, he's a little rash sometimes."
"Oh really, didn't notice that." Sara mumbled. Maybe she could swim to the island if she could get her hands free.
Walker noticed her efforts. "Jack, I don't think we need those any more."
The one called Jack untied her and Sara massaged her wrists gratefully. The rope had cut deeply into her skin when she had tried to get herself free.
"See, I'm playing nice." Walker handed her a grey cloth for her still bleeding nose. It smelled awful but Sara used it nonetheless to apply pressure on her nose and hoped it would stop the bleeding. Her eyes started to water, because it hurts so much. "I hope it isn't broken", she murmured under her breath.
"So maybe you could do me a favour as well?" Walker asked her with a suggestive grin.
The young woman looked at him with horror and tried hard to stay calm. Slowly she took a few steps towards the rail, pretending to just stretch her legs.
"What did you have in mind?" she asked casually, hoping he couldn't hear the fear in her voice. Of course he noticed, they all did. Walker laughed.
"Well not what you had in mind obviously. Although I'm not about to dismiss that idea completely. But for now, I just want to know who else has knowledge about the stuff you have on this USB?" He showed her the small flashdrive she had put in her pocket earlier on.
"I talked to nobody, I swear. And you came before I could sent it to anyone. Tom must have told you that the internet was down."
"You know I don't believe that, don't you. We heard you talking on the radio, Tom and I. Who is this Robert you were talking to? Navy? Doesn't matter. You're going to make a phone call now. First this Robert and then your institute." He waved at Jack who pulled out her mobile. Sara carefully made one other step towards the rail.
"You know, I don't feel like talking at the moment." she said and jumped.

She crawled as fast as she could and didn't look around. If she could just reach the island, she could hide or find some help. After a few meters she noticed that there was no one behind her. She had thought they would try to stop her. Glancing back Sara saw an inflatable closing in. They didn't seem to be in a hurry. And Sara understood. The water was cold, the island farther away than she had estimated. Although being a good swimmer she never had had a chance to reach the dry land. Even if she hadn't been in such a bad condition.
"Had enough bathing?" Walker called over the water. "If you wanted to take a bath you just could have asked. We even do have warm water aboard." They all laughed. Defeated Sara turned on her back and let herself float until the inflatable reached her. Someone handed her the mobile.
"Make the calls and I help you out of the water. But you better don't do anything stupid, sunshine. My patience is over!"